Saturday, March 24, 2018

The Brandt's Cormorants of Santa Cruz

Every year, Brandt's Cormorants nest along a rocky portion of the cliffs at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, California and I love to visit not only to photograph, but to simply watch them go about their lives, building nests and raising their young.  This area is maintained by local conservation groups who remove the invasive ice plant, allowing enough space for the birds to build their annual rookery.

Yesterday I dropped by and they are busy preparing for a new batch of babies, mating and gathering nesting material.  Males were displaying their beautiful, blue iridescent necks, an area called a "gular pouch", while females were arranging the nest and bickering with their neighbors.

Many people walk or jog on by this spot without noticing the activity below. I did have one young lady visiting from the east coast stop to ask me what kind of birds they were and I got into a really nice conversation with her.  I told her a little about the birds and their behavior and she was looking forward to telling her mother who is an avid birder.  This is one of the aspects I enjoy of wildlife photography.  Sharing our love and knowledge of the wildlife we photograph and hopefully inspiring others to get more involved in the natural world around them.

Here is a short clip I took yesterday.

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